When it comes to the macabre world of serial murderers, the most unsettling detail often isn’t the number of victims but the bizarre keepsakes they cling to—what investigators call “trophies.” In this deep‑dive of the top 10 trophies ever taken from victims, we’ll explore the twisted motivations behind each grisly souvenir and why these objects continue to haunt us.
top 10 trophies: a quick look at the chilling collections
10 The Eyes: Charles Albright
The press loves to hand out nicknames, and when a murderer starts collecting body parts as mementos, the moniker usually reflects the gruesome habit. Charles Albright earned the chilling title “The Eyeball Killer” because he allegedly removed the eyes of his victims and kept them as trophies—a fact that still baffles investigators, as none of those ocular souvenirs have ever been recovered despite his conviction.
Albright’s criminal résumé reads like a checklist of escalating offenses: petty theft, illegal weapons possession, assault, fraud, and eventually sexual assault of a minor. By the time he progressed to murder, his behavior had deteriorated dramatically, and he began mutilating bodies. The missing eyes remain the most eerie reminder of his depravity, a macabre souvenir that vanished along with the evidence.
9 Camping Gear?: Ivan Milat
Australia’s most notorious serial killer, Ivan Milat—often dubbed the “Backpacker Murderer”—didn’t just snuff out lives; he also raided his victims’ belongings. After luring unsuspecting travelers into the bush, Milat would turn the tables and murder them, then pilfer their camping equipment as trophies.
When police finally searched Milat’s property, they uncovered what they described as an “Aladdin’s Cave” brimming with stolen outdoor gear: sleeping bags, portable stoves, canteens, and a plethora of other camping paraphernalia. The sheer volume of the loot suggests a twisted obsession with the very items his victims relied on for safety, turning a simple hike into a nightmarish treasure hunt.
8 Their Baby: John Edward Robinson
John Edward Robinson, infamously labeled the “Internet’s First Serial Killer,” mixed digital deception with old‑school crime. After coaxing women through chat rooms, he would murder them, but his most shocking theft involved a tiny, four‑month‑old infant.
Robinson met Lisa Stasi in 1985 while she was living in a women’s shelter in Kansas City. Assuming a false identity, he promised her a job and a better life, only to kill her and snatch her baby. While Stasi’s body was never recovered, the infant survived. Robinson kept the child for a brief period before handing her off to his brother and sister‑in‑law, who were unaware of the kidnapping and raised her as their own.
7 “The Screaming Boy”: Chris Busch
This entry is a bit of an outlier because the alleged trophy comes from a suspect rather than a convicted killer. Chris Busch was one of several suspects linked to the Oakland County Child Killer case, a series of murders of young boys in 1970s Michigan that remains unsolved.
According to reports, Busch allegedly took his own life, and investigators discovered a hand‑drawn picture taped above his body. The sketch depicted a screaming boy whose features bore a striking resemblance to one of the confirmed victims, Mark Stebbins, leading some to speculate that the drawing itself was meant as a morbid trophy.
6 Bathtubs of Blood: Elizabeth Báthory
Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Hungary has become synonymous with blood‑soaked legend. While folklore paints her as a vampire‑like figure who bathed in the blood of virgins, historians remain divided over how much of the tale is fact versus sensationalism.
What is documented is that Báthory tortured and killed a large number of young women. Some accounts claim she collected their blood for drinking and bathing, a practice allegedly rooted in a childhood medical regimen that prescribed the consumption of young, healthy blood to treat seizures. Whether these rumors are true or merely propaganda, the notion of a noblewoman keeping vats of blood adds a chilling layer to her already gruesome reputation.
5 37 X’s Mark the Spot: Robert Hansen
Robert Hansen’s hunting ground was the Alaskan wilderness, where he abducted women, subjected them to brutal torture, and then released them into the frigid wild to become prey. His most unsettling souvenir was a map hidden behind his headboard, marked with dozens of tiny X’s indicating where he dumped bodies.
The map bore 37 X’s, although only 17 victims have been positively identified. Several of those 17 were located precisely at the spots Hansen had marked, confirming the map’s authenticity and suggesting that many more victims remain undiscovered, still awaiting identification at the locations he painstakingly recorded.
4 Their Voice: Eddie Leonski
At first glance, Eddie Leonski—known as the “Brownout Strangler”—might not seem trophy‑worthy, given his brief three‑victim spree during World War II. However, his true motive was far more twisted: he coveted the voices of his female victims.
Leonski, an American soldier stationed in Detroit, strangled three women and reportedly tried to murder several others. He confessed that his obsession lay in stealing the women’s singing voices, believing that by killing them he could somehow “capture” that sound for himself, a bizarre and tragic fixation that turned each murder into a failed attempt at vocal theft.
3 Feet, Socks, Shoes: Jerry Brudos
Jerry Brudos earned the moniker “The Shoe Fetish Killer” because his obsession with feet went far beyond mere admiration. He would murder women, amputate their feet, and preserve the rotting limbs as macabre models for his personal shoe collection, often incorporating the actual feet into his displays.
While his primary fixation was on feet, Brudos also kept other body parts, such as breasts, which he molded into plastic paperweights. His twisted hobby turned human remains into grotesque memorabilia, highlighting the extreme lengths some killers will go to satisfy a fetish.
2 Just Everything: David Parker Ray
David Parker Ray, dubbed the “Toy‑Box Killer,” is suspected of more than 60 murders, though he was never formally convicted of that many. His crimes involved elaborate torture devices, and his trophy collection reads like a horror museum.
The FBI has compiled a gallery of items believed to be taken from victims, ranging from jewelry to personal belongings, including intimate objects from children. The sheer volume and variety of trophies underscore Ray’s depraved need to hoard evidence of his atrocities, turning each stolen item into a chilling reminder of his perverse imagination.
1 The Dog: John George Haigh
John George Haigh earned infamy as “The Acid Bath Murderer,” dissolving victims in vats of acid to erase any trace. Yet, amidst his gruesome methods, he committed a seemingly petty yet deeply disturbing theft: the pet dog of his victims, Archibald and Rose Henderson.
After murdering the Hendersons and selling most of their possessions, Haigh chose to keep their beloved dog, raising it as his own. This act of animal theft, layered atop his acid‑bath murders, adds an oddly personal cruelty to an already horrifying legacy.